What this means

CreateSA will undertake a project to scope existing cultural safety and competency training available to the sector, identify potential partners, and assess delivery options.

What we're doing

CreateSA is currently working with delivery partners to scope this work, with training to commence in 2026-27.

Delivery of cultural safety and competency training for South Australia’s arts, cultural and creative industries supports the sector to strengthen cultural safety, understanding and respectful engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities. A series of practical training workshops on a range of topics, will help artists, organisations and creative practitioners build their cultural competency and confidence as part of an ongoing learning journey.

Delivery status

On Track

What this means

CreateSA will review its grants and funding programs including Arts and Culture Grants, Music Development Office programs, and the Arts Organisations Program.

The review will consider strategic alignment, benchmarking, funding streams/programs, systems and processes. Consultation will involve targeted stakeholder engagement to co-design future state process, considering a human centred design outcome.

What we're doing

CreateSA’s grants review is now midway through a program of co-design workshops with the arts and music sector, facilitated by South Australian consultancy Think Human. These sessions are bringing sector voices directly into the process, helping to surface priorities, challenges, and opportunities for future funding approaches. Think Human is also leading a series of internal strategic workshops with CreateSA staff.

This approach is supporting alignment between external sector insights and internal strategic thinking, with a focus on defining the principles and objectives that will underpin the future grants program landscape.

The outcomes of the review will include findings and recommendations for new grants and funding programs. This review is expected to conclude in the second half of 2026.

Delivery status

On Track

What this means

CreateSA will fund Carclew to provide additional support for youth arts organisations, and to deliver a micro grants program for young artists.

What we're doing

The South Australian Government recently announced an expanded commitment to supporting young creatives and emerging leaders, introducing a new Carclew grant program with $400,000 in funding over two years, funded through the A Place to Create Delivery Plan 2025-27. This investment more than quadruples Carclew’s current support for youth arts capacity-building projects and grants. Funds will also support quick response grants for young, underrepresented artists.

CreateSA has also provided funding to Adelaide Youth Orchestra to support program delivery in 2026, with around 300 young artists engaged through six core ensembles and chamber music programs.

Delivery status

On Track

What this means

CreateSA will build its partnerships with Creative Australia and the entities that sit under it, including Music Australia, Creative Workplaces and Writing Australia.

What we're doing

CreateSA continues to collaborate with Creative Australia, including through its artform-specific initiatives.

In particular, the Music Development Office has partnered with Music Australia on a range of initiatives including:

• Travel bursaries for regional South Australian delegates to attend the 2025 Regional and Remote Music Summit in Byron Bay;
• Collaboration on The Bass Line research series through local data sharing, and
• Promotional support for the Ausify campaign to increase visibility of Australian artists on streaming platforms.

Delivery status

On Track

What this means

The Music Development Office will support dedicated live music venues through its 2026-2028 Strategy.

What we're doing

A new grant program for venues will be delivered as part of the music development strategy A Sound Future 2026-2028, to be released in mid-late August 2026. The program itself be delivered across two rounds in 2026-27, 2027-28, to address venue accessibility in partnership with Access2Arts.

Delivery status

On Track

What this means

CreateSA will continue to deliver the Arts Investment Fund, which has been established to drive targeted investment in strategic initiatives across South Australia’s arts, culture and creative industries.

What we're doing

CreateSA has provided funding through the Arts Investment Fund to JamFactory in support of the implementation of an artist employment strategy.This investment will increase the organisation’s capacity to generate commercial revenue through employment of South Australian artists, designers and makers.

The initiative also includes a new annual scholarship for First Nations artists to participate in JamFactory’s Associate Training Program.

Delivery status

On Track

What this means

CreateSA will continue to deliver the Arts Investment Fund, which has been established to drive targeted investment in strategic initiatives across South Australia’s arts, culture and creative industries.

What we're doing

CreateSA has provided funding through the Arts Investment Fund to several statutory authorities and arts organisations to support initiatives that deliver programming outcomes. These include Carrick Hill, Libraries Board of South Australia, Art Gallery of South Australia, Country Arts SA and State Opera of South Australia. Of particular note is funding provided to:

• Carrick Hill to support the development of a holistic roadmap for the delivery of the vision of Carrick Hill as a nationally and globally significant cultural tourism destination.
• Art Gallery of South Australia to support audience experiences, strategic business development and master planning for infrastructure and the visitor experience.
• Libraries Board of South Australia to establish an interactive experience for young children, promoting early literacy and diverse stories, and supporting the key themes of the State Government’s Words Grow Minds early childhood initiative.

Delivery status

On Track

What this means

CreateSA will continue to deliver the Arts Investment Fund, which has been established to drive targeted investment in strategic initiatives across South Australia’s arts, culture and creative industries.

What we're doing

CreateSA has provided funding through the Arts Investment Fund to incentivise public donations through dollar-for-dollar matched funding campaigns for Country Arts SA, Adelaide Festival and State Opera SA.

Delivery status

On Track

What this means

The South Australian Government will establish shared offices and facilities for State Theatre Company South Australia, State Opera South Australia and Country Arts SA.

What we're doing

In February 2026 it was announced that the Tapangka precinct development, on the former Adelaide Bus Station site will become the new home of State Opera South Australia, State Theatre Company South Australia and Country Arts SA. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) will also call the new precinct home, fostering collaboration, innovation and shared opportunities.

Set for completion by 2031, the purpose-built, state-of-the-art facility in the city centre will deliver major benefits for the arts community, audiences and the broader creative sector.

Delivery status

On Track

What this means

CreateSA will provide funding to Festival City Adelaide, the peak body for festivals and events in South Australia.

What we're doing

CreateSA has provided funding to Festival City Adelaide, supporting the organisation’s work in the areas of workforce and skills development. This funding has enabled:

• The expansion of the organisation’s Young Professionals in Festivals and Events cohort, which is dedicated to nurturing the next generation of industry leaders.
• Direct recruitment and networking opportunities for members.

The delivery of a seminar series covering law, technology and philanthropy, alongside sector‑specific training on AI capability and implementation, in partnership with Skills SA and specialist AI training providers.

Delivery status

On Track

What this means

CreateSA will explore opportunities to incentivise government-funded festivals and events to increase local content in their programming, including through partnerships with South Australian Tourism Commission (SATC) and through the Music Development Office’s Live Music Events Fund.

What we're doing

Through the Live Music Events Fund in 2025-26, the Music Development Office funded several live music festivals across a diversity of genres, including Froth and Fury, New Found Sound, and regional events Space Jams, The Bend Classic and Handpicked. All these events include performances by local musicians.

The Music Development Office also supported regional festival activity through the Project Support Grants program, including events in Port Lincoln and Caltowie which featured South Australian artists in the programming.

Delivery status

On Track

What this means

CreateSA will develop a strategy for ongoing engaging with the sector. This includes a new Senior Engagement Officer role to strategically manage and align CreateSA communications through all relevant channels.

What we're doing

The Senior Engagement Officer role has commenced and is working to strategically manage and align all CreateSA communications.

Delivery status

On Track

What this means

CreateSA will develop its relationship with the South Australian Tourism Commission (SATC) to explore new joint initiatives, and leverage existing SATC programs to benefit the arts, cultural and creative sector.

What we're doing

CreateSA will showcase the artists and creatives who are behind SATC’s ‘Simple Pleasures’ brand campaign through features to be published on CreateSA’s website and digital channels over the coming months.

Delivery status

On Track

What this means

CreateSA will continue to work across government to ensure arts, culture and creative industries are recognised in other agency's plans.

What we're doing

CreateSA continues to monitor and feed into actions in other agency's plans to ensure arts, cultural and creative outcomes are included. This includes developing and maintaining long-term relationships across all relevant government agencies to align existing policies and develop future initiatives together.

Delivery status

On Track

What this means

CreateSA will provide funding to the Adelaide City of Music office. It will also continue to engage with partners including Adelaide Festival Centre and City of Adelaide to explore opportunities to leverage the UNESCO City of Music designation.

What we're doing

CreateSA, through the Music Development Office, has funded the Adelaide City of Music office to support its work to leverage the UNESCO City of Music designation.

Delivery status

On Track

What this means

CreateSA will partner with Green Industries SA to leverage and build on the agency’s existing programs, and to jointly develop new initiatives.

What we're doing

CreateSA and Green Industries SA are exploring opportunities for collaboration in support of this action.

Initiatives being investigated include an assessment across the cultural institutions on North Terrace to identify practical and achievable improvements such as introducing or upgrading recycling and food-organics bins in front or back-of-house areas or transitioning from single-use coffee cups to reusable systems.

CreateSA will work closely with Green Industries SA to ensure any assessment aligns with the priorities of South Australia’s Waste Strategy 2025-2030 and the Government’s Waste Strategy and Better Practice Guide.

Delivery status

On Track

What this means

CreateSA will support artists to develop work that responds to climate change challenges through Arts and Culture Grants and Music Development Office programs.

What we're doing

Many projects that respond to this theme have been supported through the Arts and Culture Grants Program.

These grants collectively support the development of innovative, cross-disciplinary creative works through diverse forms such as music, visual art, performance, and literature, with themes around sustainability, resilience, and the relationship between humans and the natural world.

Delivery status

On Track

What this means

CreateSA will establish clear, transparent and effective mechanisms for stakeholder feedback and engagement.

What we're doing

CreateSA has published information on its website to support transparent stakeholder feedback and engagement.

This information includes a summary table outlining progress against Delivery Plan 2025-27 commitments, a public highlights dashboard providing up‑to‑date visibility of delivery, published case studies demonstrating progress against the Policy Ambitions, and a new ‘Contact Us’ form to enable ongoing feedback.

Reflection on progress toward deliverables will be updated every six months.

Delivery status

On Track

What this means

CreateSA will establish a Steering Committee comprising representatives from relevant agencies to provide whole of government oversight to the delivery of A Place to Create, and to leverage opportunities across government for subsequent delivery plan actions.

What we're doing

The Cross-Government Steering Committee was established in 2025 and includes representatives from agencies across the South Australian public sector, bringing expertise across government to help deliver A Place to Create.

This Committee will support CreateSA in developing and maintaining long-term relationships across government to align existing policies, deliver on actions owned by other agencies in the Delivery Plan 2025-27 and develop future initiatives together.

Committee members include representatives from Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Department for Education, Department of Human Services, Department of the Premier and Cabinet, Department for State Development, Department of Treasury and Finance, Office for Design and Architecture South Australia, Preventive Health SA, and South Australian Tourism Commission.

Their insights and advice will also help CreateSA establish itself as the central hub into government, and to connect artists and creatives with opportunities across government.

Delivery status

On Track

What this means

CreateSA will develop and implement evaluation methodologies to measure the social, wellbeing and economic impacts of A Place to Create, as well as the broader arts, cultural and creative sectors.

What we're doing

CreateSA is developing an evaluation framework to measure and demonstrate the value, outcomes and impact of A Place to Create. This will include economic outputs, intrinsic value, social and community benefits.

This work will inform future CreateSA policy, including focus areas for the next A Place to Create delivery plan.

Delivery status

On Track

What this means

CreateSA will partner with Creative Australia to collect and share industry research.

What we're doing

CreateSA continues to partner with Creative Australia and other states and territories to collect and share industry research.

Creative Australia's forthcoming State of Culture report will measure the success of Revive, the National Cultural Policy and see the ambitions of the sector grow through benchmarking awareness of the public value of arts and creativity. The next edition is expected to be delivered in 2026. CreateSA will work with Creative Australia to communicate South Australian findings to the sector.

CreateSA jointly funds the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) to develop the Cultural Funding by Government Survey along with Commonwealth and other state and territory governments.

CreateSA will share the results of Creative Australia’s 2025 National Audience Participation Survey (NAPS), launched in June with the sector. NAPS details the changing nature of how Australians engage with and participate in culture and the arts, with this edition focusing on AI and ethical sourcing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art.

CreateSA will continue to publish research findings as they become available on its website.

Delivery status

On Track

What this means

CreateSA will collaborate with universities to develop research partnerships.

What we're doing

CreateSA continues to collaborate with universities including Adelaide University, Flinders University and other academic institutions across Australia.

Recent research includes:

• The Teaching Music in South Australia report, was published in May 2026 by the University of Canberra as an Australian Research Council Linkage Project: New Approaches to Measuring Australia’s Creative Workforce: Beyond the Census (2024-2027).

CreateSA will publish research findings as they become available on its website.

Delivery status

On Track